This dissertation in practice created a new form of educator development called the Virtual Educator Network (VEN) and examined its impact on educators' attitudes towards inclusion, feelings of support, and incorporation of new strategies to solve problems of practice they find important. The VEN is a form of professional development that pulls…

As the most important in-school factor in student learning, elementary school teachers must be able to offer all students the quality mathematical learning experiences that they deserve; and the opportunities to learn that pre-service teachers (PSTs) encounter during their preparation programs impact their ability to do so. Content courses are…

This study examines the collaboration of fifteen high school educators who came together to dialogue addressing patriarchy, sexism, homophobia, and heteronormativity in our practices, curriculum, classrooms, and school. Additionally, this practitioner action research study examines my attempt to queer and disrupt feminist facilitation. The study…

This Dissertation in Practice (DIP) was a group dissertation as required by the Doctorate in Educational Leadership program and created a new form of educator development called the Virtual Educator Network (VEN). This DIP examined the VENs' impact on educators' attitudes towards inclusion, feelings of support, and incorporation of new strategies…

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted schools across the country and has exacerbated education shortages in localities that were already struggling. Stakeholders at both state and local education agencies reflected the need to connect and learn from their peers about emerging policies or practices to address educator shortages. This brief describes…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the merits of lesson study (LS) as a research approach for research in (science) education. A lesson was developed to introduce students to model-based reasoning: a higher order thinking skill that is seen as one of the major reasoning strategies in science. Design/methodology/approach: Participants…

With little research as guidance, it is difficult for educators to know how to prepare to lead systems of professional learning at the district level. In this phenomenological study, the sensemaking framework was used to understand the experiences, knowledge, and beliefs of those who hold district-level leadership roles with responsibility for…

Although calls for a more diverse workforce in biomedical fields have been widespread, racial and ethnic gaps in biomedical degree attainment remain. Contextualist perspectives seek to understand persistent STEM inequities by examining person-in-context experiences and how systemic factors filter into students' proximal contexts shaping their…

The burgeoning research on contemporary educator movements provides insight into what activist educators know and believe, what they learn through their collective organizing and activism, and how they conduct inquiry to generate new knowledge for praxis. Yet, although this work suggests that these educators engage, generate, circulate, and…

According to the Michigan Department of Education, between 2011 and 2017, the number of multilingual learners (MLs) enrolled in K-12 schools in the state increased by more than 50%. In 2017, the average teacher to ML ratio in the state was an alarmingly low 1:168. To increase the number of teachers prepared to effectively serve MLs, we developed…

At a time of increasing global uncertainty, it is critical that school systems succeed at transforming their educational aims and practices. This article focuses on the Chilean System of Educational Quality Assurance as a policy case aimed at expanding the purpose of education by incorporating indicators of social and personal development (ISPD)…

Background: Teacher turnover is a dire and chronic problem for many education systems across the globe. According to UNESCO, 70% of teachers will be replaced by 2030. This study investigates the relationship between the retention of science and mathematics teachers and factors related to human, social, structural, and positive psychological…

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an urgent need for professional development (PD) experiences to support teacher learning across hybrid and digital contexts. This study investigates teachers' experiences in a Virtual Pivot, a PD workshop designed to support computational thinking integration into disciplinary teaching. Participants were 151 middle and…

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework describes three essential presences (i.e., teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence) and how these presences interact in providing an educational experience in online and blended learning environments. This meta-analysis examined 19 empirical studies on the CoI Presences (teaching…

Mathematics education research has focused on developing teachers' knowledge or other visible aspects of the teaching practice. This paper contributes to conversations around making a teacher's thinking visible and enhancing a teacher's pedagogical reasoning by exploring the use of pedagogical documentation. In this paper, we describe how a…